Hj. Broxterman et al., HIGHLY SENSITIVE AND SPECIFIC DETECTION OF P-GLYCOPROTEIN FUNCTION FOR HEMATOLOGICAL AND SOLID TUMOR-CELLS USING A NOVEL NUCLEIC-ACID STAIN, British Journal of Cancer, 76(8), 1997, pp. 1029-1034
Progress in our understanding of the contribution of P-glycoprotein (P
-gp)-mediated resistance to chemotherapy failure in haematological as
well as solid tumours has been hampered by the lack of highly sensitiv
e, reliable methods for the detection of P-gp function in fresh human
tumour cells. The present study identifies the novel nucleic acid stai
n SYTO16 as a highly sensitive and specific dye to assess P-gp functio
n. The effect of P-gp is expressed here as the ratio of dye fluorescen
ce (RF) from cells incubated with dye with or without 2 mu M of the P-
gp inhibitor PSC 833. Using flow cytometric analysis, an RF of 0.9 was
found for SYTO16 in the KB3-1 (P-gp(-)) and 1.6 in KB8 (P-gp(+)) cell
s. Three types of patients' cells were studied: (1) in haematopoietic
CD34(+) cells, which are known to express P-gp, the RF was 6.0 for SYT
O16 compared with 2.5 for rhodamine 123 and 1.3 for daunorubicin (mean
of five individuals); (2) in acute myeloid leukaemia cells, the RF fo
r SYTO16 was 1.0 in P-gp-and 4.5 in P-gp(+) samples; (3) for the first
time, we have quantitated P-gp function in fresh human solid tumour (
sarcoma) cells. We found, in a P-gp(+) leiomyosarcoma, an RF of 16 for
SYTO16 and 2.7 for daunorubicin. This means that complete inhibition
of P-gp function in these sarcoma cells would lead to an increase of d
aunorubicin accumulation with 170% compared with 30% in the CD34(+) ce
lls. Next, we showed that SYTO16 could be fixed in nuclei by 3.6% form
aldehyde treatment, allowing quantification of the nuclear fluorescenc
e on cytospins by laser scanning microscopy. In conclusion, SYTO16 pro
ved to have a combination of favourable properties: it can be excited
at 488 nm and has large fluorescence enhancement upon binding to nucle
ic acids, allowing the use of low, nontoxic (< 10 nM) concentrations.
Because the RF for SYTO16 is much higher than for daunorubicin, it can
be applied for the determination of P-gp function in relatively small
numbers of low-P-gp-expressing tumour cells by laser scanning microsc
opy. Individual sarcomas were found to have high P-gp function compare
d with CD34(+) cells. This assay may be used to select patients for P-
gp modulation protocols.